As technology has progressed, many other industries have seen the advantages of the new technology. The hospitality industry is one of these industries. For example, many hotels now offer their guests recent movies, offered as a pay-per-view service.
But the current form of video-on-demand offered to guests is analog in nature. The movies are stored on videotape. This means that only one guest can watch an individual copy of a movie at a time. For the hotel to offer the same movie to several guests, the hotel needs several copies of the movie. And when all available copies of the movie are “checked out,” the next guest has to wait for one of the used copies to become available.
Further, beyond when the movie starts (if a videotape is available), guests currently have no power to control the airing of the movie. For example, a guest might want to pause the movie to answer an important phone call or to run a quick errand. The analog technology used by the hospitality industry does not allow the guest that option. If the guest needs to turn his attention away from the movie and miss some of the show, the guest cannot recover the lost footage without ordering the movie a second time (and paying a second fee).
Accordingly, a need remains for a video-on-demand system that allows unlimited numbers of viewers and allows users individual control over the broadcast that addresses these and other problems associated with the prior art.